Costa Rica - Day 5

Sunday, January 15, 2023

The standard second planned activity at Casa Corcovado was a snorkeling trip out to Caño Island, about 20 miles offshore. We had decided early in our trip planning to skip this activity and have another day of birding on the mainland. 

We started birding around the lodge with Johan at 5:45. After walking around a bit Teri decided to go back to the room and rest as she was still a little tired from yesterday.

Johan and I continued on, going to the upper public trail that leads into the National Park.  Some parts were very steep and muddy, but we made it fine. We saw some good birds including Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager (endemic to this tiny area), Gray-chested Dove,  Lesson’s Motmot, and White-whiskered Puffbird.

Black-cheeked Ant-Tanger

Gray-chested Dove

Lesson's Motmot

White-whiskered Puffbird

We met Teri for breakfast around 8:00. She had seen a Bare-throated Tiger-Heron by the pool and a Common Black-Hawk on the satellite dish! Some good birds in the busiest area of the lodge.

Bare-throated Tiger-Heron enjoying the pool area

After breakfast we all headed out for some easy birding around the property.  I tried the sound identification app Merlin and it indicated a  Green Shrike-Vireo immediately.  Johan was a little surprised but also heard it and off we went. He mentioned that it was a small green bird, typically high in the canopy so very difficult to see. He played the bird's call and it seemed to come closer, but then went back. We heard another not far away, and went after that one. Luckily it was in a sparsely leafed tree and I spotted it, and then it flew a little closer. Very pretty lime green with yellow belly and throat. Short but satisfying looks. I never did get a picture of it! Here is an image off of the internet. 

Green Shrike-Vireo

We then birded down some flat easy roads and trails, and got into a couple of great mixed flocks. With White-throated Shrike-Tanagers leading the way, the flocks included the large Black-striped Woodcreeper, the medium-sized Tawny-winged and the tiny Wedge-billed Woodcreeper, along with a Chiriqui foliage-gleaner.

White-throated Shrike-Tanager

Black-striped Woodcreeper

Tawny-winged Woodcreeper

Wedge-billed Woodcreeper

Chiriqui Foliage-Gleaner

Towards the end of our walk we found a group of Trogans chasing each other around. These are normally very sedate birds, so the activity was puzzling. It turned out to be three Slaty-tailed Trogans and a pair of Baird’s Trogans apparently working out some territorial issues. They gave us great looks.

Slaty-tailed Trogan - female

Slaty-tailed Trogan - male

Baird's Trogan - male

Baird's Trogan - male

We also saw another White-throated Shrike-Tanager, a Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher and a beautiful male Velvety Mankin. This bird was previously named the Blue-crowned Manakin which seems to fit very well. 

White-throated Shrike-Tanager

Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher

Velvety Manakin - male

By 11:00 it was hot and very sunny, and the birds were quieting down. We headed back to our room, showered and relaxed until lunch. During lunch Johan saw a Common Black-Hawk swoop down to the ground and grab something. It turned out that it was eating one of the many Cicadas.

Common Black-Hawk

On our way back to our room after lunch we saw a Yellow-headed Caracara on the ground eating something. Another cicada perhaps?  

Yellow-headed Caracara

After a relaxing afternoon we met up at 4:00 for a bit more birding around the grounds. It was clouding up at this point so we took umbrellas along just in case!  We saw a few more good birds and mammals. It was interesting how productive this day had been staying around the lodge, compared to our much slower previous day in the National Park.  Trail birding is much tougher than birding in more open areas for sure. 

Black-striped Sparrow

Coati

Golden-crowned Spadebill (Tiny!)

Howler Monkey

Rufous Mourner

About the time we got down to the Sunset Overlook, it started to sprinkle. Teri and I decided to head back to the room and we got there just in time. It started really pouring down rain as we arrived and it continued through much of the night. It was the only significant rain that we saw our entire trip. 

Next - Moving Day

Costa Rica - Day 4

Saturday, January 14, 2023

Guests who had arrived on our boat were split into two groups, each assigned a lodge guide. Today our group would hike into Corcovdo National Park while the other would go on a snorkeling trip. Tomorrow the groups would switch activities.

We'd been told that the trails would be very muddy so we each got fitted for rubber boots. There was a prohibition against carrying plastic water bottles into the park, so Johan scored us each a very nice Camelback brand stainless steel water bottle.  We'd been told that we would have to stay with our lodge guide as part of the national park rules, but we separated pretty quickly as we were looking for birds and the other tour was a more general nature tour. No one seemed to notice or mind. Johan had worked as a guide at the lodge for a couple of years and knew the area very well. 

The trail was initially wet and muddy, so we were glad for the boots. Johan immediately showed us some fresh Tapir tracks, and a little farther down Tapir poop in the creek. Apparently they always poop into water! 

Tapir track

Tapir poop

Seeing a Tapir is sort of the holy grail of this hike. There are a lot of Tapir in the area and we saw plenty of tracks and poop, but never saw the animal itself. They can be very large, up to six feet long and weighing over 500 pounds! For reference, an internet picture of a Tapir:

Baird's Tapir

As is often the case on forest trails, birding was pretty slow.  We did get great looks at a pair of Black-throated Trogans and a Black-hooded Antshrike. 

Black-throated Trogan female

Black-throated Trogan male

Black-hooded Antshrike

Given that there were only a few folks in our lodge group, we were shocked at the number of hiking groups passing us from the opposite direction. It turned out that these were folks on day-trips from Drake Bay. They had boated to a wet landing at the Ranger Station, and were hiking back toward the beach where we’d landed the previous day. Many were in sandals and tennis shoes and didn't seem to be enjoying the wet, muddy trails. So like National Parks in the US, it seems like the accessible parts of Costa Rican National Parks may not be the best place to find serenity and nature!

After a couple of hours of hiking we arrived at the ranger station, which was a large grass clearing with tables, shelters, restrooms, an office, etc. 

There were many groups of folks coming and going, with more boats bringing folks in and fewer taking folks back. 

Johan was being super-flexible with us, which was great because the lodge tour was a specific route and distance, which we really didn’t want to do. From the ranger station you could cross a small river and continue, and we watched dozens of folks do it. Most had to remove shoes and socks and then dry off on the other side and re-shoe. Teri had very short rubber boots and would have had to do that. It was already quite warm and very sunny, and we still had the walk back so decided to skip the extended portion of the hike.

We relaxed on the grounds of the ranger station for a while, watching Brown Pelicans,  Bare-throated Tiger-Herons, and ultimately a pair of Great Curassows. 

Bare-throated Tiger-Heron immature

Brown Pelican

Great Curassow female

Great Curassow male

We returned on a combination beach/forest trail. 

Along the way we saw tons of little Hermit Crabs and had fantastic looks at a Scarlet Macaw feeding on Beach Almonds.  

Hermit Crab

Scarlet Macaw

We were the only folks walking on the beach, and we enjoyed the scenery and solitude. During our Peru trip our guide had showed us a battery powered "neck fan" that he used in the hot, humid areas. We bought one and Teri used it during this hike. It has two small computer fans that blow air up onto your face. It is virtually silent and Teri said it made a big difference on this hike.

We arrived back at the lodge beach around 11:30 and the plan was to join the other guests for a beach picnic at 1:00. Teri and I were already hot and tired, and the idea of being out in the sun for another three hours didn’t really appeal. We found that the boat from the snorkeling trip had returned, and one of the ladies was not feeling well and was making arrangements to go back up to the lodge. So rather than partaking of the planned beach picnic we hitched a ride back up to the lodge and enjoyed a nice lunch there in the restaurant. Definitely the smart choice!

We relaxed in the room after lunch, showering and napping before a 3:30 walk with Johan. We walked around the property for a while, finding a noisy group of Spider Monkeys as well as several Charming Hummingbirds. 

Spider Monkey

Charming Hummingbird

I also got a picture of one of the thousands of Cicadas on the lodge grounds. They were so loud in the afternoons that it was difficult to have a conversation or hear any birds. They were just crazy loud! Luckily they quieted down at night. 

Cicada

We headed down to the sunset point to enjoy the last light of the evening. After dinner we made a quick effort to locate a Crested Owl that had been calling the previous night, but it wasn’t cooperating. 

Next - Another day at Casa Corcovado

Costa Rica - Day 3

Friday, January 13, 2023 

We started our day by driving a ways down the entrance road from our lodge and then getting out to bird. 

There were a couple of birds that Johan wanted to find for us as this would be our last chance to see them.  One was a Black-headed Trogan, and we located a pair pretty quickly. 

Black-headed Trogan

A real surprise (and a lifer for us) was a Ruddy Quail-Dove, and a bird usually found deep in the forest. This one was in a small patch of trees alongside the road. 

Ruddy Quail-Dove

We returned to the lodge for breakfast and enjoyed a great display of Scarlet Macaws, White-throated Scrub-Jays, Cinnamon Hummingbirds and a White-faced Capuchin. 

Scarlet Macaw

White-throated Magpie-Jay

Cinnamon Hummingbird

White-faced Capuchin

Breakfast was weirdly slow (how long does it take to make toast?) and we got away a bit later than planned for our drive down the coastal highway.  

Goodbye to the giant Scarlet Macaw!

We immediately encountered a big traffic jam at the “Crocodile Bridge” (where people stop to see crocodiles in the Tarcoles River below) which was under repair with one-way traffic. We had a couple of other delays and barely made it to the dock at 11:30 for our boat to Casa Corcovado Jungle Lodge.

At the boat dock a lodge guide gave us a long introduction about packing our gear, wet landings, safety in the tropics, etc. I know he was trying to be exciting and informative but it was a bit dramatic for my taste. We finally boarded the boat for the trip out to the lodge, which was about 45 minutes in a mangrove lined river followed by 45 minutes out in the Pacific Ocean. 

Teri and I had hoped that this would be a birding opportunity, but it was basically transportation. They did stop early on to show us a Common Potoo,  a Three-toed Sloth, and a Tree Boa, but most of the trip was pounding through the waves at high speed. 

Common Potoo

Three-toed Sloth

Tree Boa

Once at the lodge beach there was some confusion as we’d been on a brand new larger boat, and now needed to transfer over to a smaller boat to get closer to shore. After an awkward transfer in rough seas we got in close to shore in the smaller boat then jumped out into about 2’ of water and walked on in. A small tractor towing a little trailer hauled us up an incredibly steep road to the beautiful lodge grounds, where we received another briefing from the lodge manager. 

 

We then had a nice lunch in the outdoor restaurant. 

After lunch we were shown to our rooms. It was very warm and humid and thankfully the room had a lot of ventilation including a ceiling fan. Our cabin was very large, with a mud room, then a large sitting room, then an even larger bedroom. It was a duplex, with the other cabin having their entrance at the back.  We were aware of the other couple being there but it wasn’t an issue. 

After getting settled in we went out for a walk on one of the lodge's trails. We saw a Great Tinamou out in the forest. These large, shy ground birds are tough to spot and we were lucky to see this one.

Great Tinamou

After our walk we headed down to the "Sunset Overlook" for a great view of sunset over the Pacific Ocean. They served some light snacks and drinks here, and it was a popular place for guests to end the day. 

After dinner we went on a short night walk. We found a tree frog, and a mature Spectacled Owl. We'd seen an immature Spectacled Owl two nights ago but this one was a full adult. 

Masked Tree Frog

Spectacled Owl

Next - Our visit to Corcovado National Park.